


Letting Her In

by lasairfhiona



Category: CSI: Miami
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-28
Updated: 2011-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-28 08:51:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/306112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Letting her in had been the best thing he'd done in a long time</p>
            </blockquote>





	Letting Her In

Horatio rolled over and looked at the woman beside him. She was fourteen years his junior. She was beautiful, smart, and his subordinate. He should have known better than to get involved with her. It was wrong on so many levels. He couldn't help it though. The old adage about the right time, right place, and right person fit them to a T.

He finally put the specter of Yelena behind him. It had taken him long enough. Too long, in fact. He'd told his sister-in-law how he'd always felt about her and then told her that because of his brother what had been floating between them would never happen. Even though Ray was gone, she would always be his brother's wife and he couldn't – wouldn't – get past that fact. Admitting it out loud had been a cleansing for him. He was finally able to let that part of his past fade into the background where it belonged. That was how he came to let Calleigh Duquesne in where others had failed.

Playing with the strands of her long hair, Horatio watched her sleep, wondering how he'd gotten so lucky. He couldn't say what the catalyst had been to bring them together. It just happened one day.

From the moment she walked into Miami Dade CSI Lab, he'd known she was special. She was more than the ballistics expert he recruited from Louisiana. She challenged him as much as he challenged her. He gave her the choice assignments, and she exceeded his expectations. But there had been something else. Something everyone one who came into CSI recognized, that caused them to flock to her like a moth to a flame. The only person he'd ever seen not connect with Calleigh had been Megan. Eric was her buddy, they could hang out together and it was nothing more than that of a brother sister relationship. Calleigh's relationship with Speed was harder to define but the other CSI always seemed to be there when she needed a friend to lean on, giving Horatio the impression that Tim knew more about Calleigh than he ever let on. Hagan left no guessing as to how he felt about Calleigh. He was the suitor, but their relationship had been short lived, much to his relief. To him John Hagan would always be his brother's partner.

However, none of that explained *his* feelings for her. Or explained *why* they ended up together. Nor did it begin to explain why he worried about her more than any of his other CSIs, male and female. She was important to him, plain and simple. Maybe it was the unconditional trust she offered. Maybe it was her giving nature. Maybe it was the way she thought about things or the fact she didn't fit the Southern Belle stereotype those who didn't know her tried to mold her into. Or maybe it was everything all wrapped up into a neat package that made up Calleigh Duquesne.

He just knew that for the first time in a long time, he felt like he'd come home. She made him smile when he often found little to smile about let alone laugh, which he also found himself doing when they were together. She showed him what true happiness was, something else had been missing in his life.

"Hey," she said quietly breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Hey. I didn't know you were awake" he replied leaning down to kiss her.

"I was watching you think," Calleigh said, rolling to fit her body closer to his. "Penny for them."

"Not worth the copper," he answered wrapping his arms around her and smiling.

"Mm…Hm…" she murmured. She knew something had the wheels turning in his head. He looked far too serious for it to be nothing.

He hadn't fooled her. He knew that. She now knew him too well to be put off by a ubiquitous answer like the others were. Smiling, he leaned down and kissed her gently again. He didn't mind in the least bit that she could figure him out. Letting her in had been the best thing he'd done in a long time.


End file.
